Homeland Security: There are no ISIS training camps in Mexico

The Department of Homeland Security is pushing back against a report claiming that militants for the Islamic State have set up shop just across the U.S.-Mexico border from El Paso.
The report — published Tuesday by Judicial Watch, a conservative outlet — claims that the terrorist group has established two bases approximately eight miles from the border and is coordinating with drug cartels to smuggle fighters in the United States. less

The Department of Homeland Security is pushing back against a report claiming that militants for the Islamic State have set up shop just across the U.S.-Mexico border from El Paso.
The report — published ... more

Photo: Associated Press

Photo: Associated Press

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The Department of Homeland Security is pushing back against a report claiming that militants for the Islamic State have set up shop just across the U.S.-Mexico border from El Paso.
The report — published Tuesday by Judicial Watch, a conservative outlet — claims that the terrorist group has established two bases approximately eight miles from the border and is coordinating with drug cartels to smuggle fighters in the United States. less

The Department of Homeland Security is pushing back against a report claiming that militants for the Islamic State have set up shop just across the U.S.-Mexico border from El Paso.
The report — published ... more

Photo: Associated Press

Homeland Security: There are no ISIS training camps in Mexico

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U.S. officials are pushing back against a report claiming that militants for the Islamic State have set up shop just across the U.S.-Mexico border from El Paso.

A report published Tuesday by Judicial Watch, a conservative media outlet, claims that the terrorist group has established two bases approximately eight miles from the border and is coordinating with drug cartels to smuggle fighters in the United States.

The outlet cited a Mexican federal police inspector and an Army field grade officer, both unnamed, as their sources.

A State Department spokesman shot down the report in a statement to Fox News on Friday: "The United States and Mexico work together on counterterrorism and border security to protect the citizens of both of our countries from the threat of terrorism and violent extremism."

This isn't the first time Judicial Watch has attempted to stoke fears about members of the militant group crossing the border: San Antonio Express-News columnist Brian Chasnoff wrote in a September column that the conservative outlet was reporting ISIS militants planned to attack the United States from Ciudad Juarez.

Prominent Republicans have also cited concerns about ISIS cross the border: In an op-ed piece published on CNN, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said the federal government should take steps to secure the border "in light of concerns about potential ISIS activities on our southern border."

"As long as our border isn't secure, the government is making it far too easy for terrorists to infiltrate our nation," Cruz said.

In August, Gov. Rick Perry, a potential Cruz rival in the 2016 presidential race, told an audience at the Heritage Foundation in Washington that "individuals from ISIS or other terrorist states could be" taking advantage of a porous border, CNN reported.

"I think it's a very real possibility that they may have already used that," Perry said, adding, "We have no clear evidence of that."